Beddoes, Thomas

, M. D. a gentleman of Welch extraction, was born at Shiffnall in Shropshire, April 15,1760,
where he received the first rudiments of his education, but
was soon removed to the school of Brewood in Staffordshire.
He very early displayed a thirst for knowledge, and, as is
frequently the case, appears to have been determined rather by accident than design to that pursuit in which he
was afterwards most distinguished. From Brewood he was
removed to the grammar-school at Bridgenorth, which he
quitted at the age of thirteen. His manners and habits at
school were particular, but study and the desire of knowledge were predominant. He seemed early to give way to
deep thought and reflection; and this, added to a natural
shyness of disposition, gave him an air of reserve, which
distinguished him from his young associates. In May 1773,
he was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Sam. Dickenson, rector of Blym-hill in Staffordshire, who supplied his
biographer with some particulars of his character highly
creditable to him. In 1776 he was entered of Pembroke
college, Oxford, where he applied himself with remarkable
industry and diligence to the study of modern languages,
chemistry, mineralogy, and botany. In 1781, he visited
| the metropolis, and studied anatomy; and in the course
of these studies he undertook to translate the works of Spallanzani, which appeared in 1784. It is also thought that
he supplied the notes to Dr. Cullen’s edition of Bergman’s
Physical and Chemical Essays. In 1783, he took the degree of M. A. and the following year went to Edinburgh,
where he distinguished himself, not only as a member, but
for some time as president of the royal medical and natural
history societies. In 1786 he returned to Oxford, and took
his doctor’s degree; and the same year he visited the continent, on his return from which he was appointed to the
chemical lectureship at Oxford, in which situation he distinguished hiuisrlf much, and was generally attended by
a numerous auditory. Mineralogy at this time appears to
have occupied much of his attention: his theory of the
earth being, according to his biographer, conformable to
that of Hutton; but at this time he was rather hasty in his
conclusions, and would frequently acknowledge that he
had been misled in the judgment he had formed of certain,
ibssus, especially in regard to the operations of fire. Of
this a singular instance has been given. A gentleman had
Jbr ught to Oxford, from the summit of one of the mountains
surrounding Coniston lake in Lancashire, some specimens
which had evidently undergone the operation of fire, but
which happened to abound near a hollow on the top of the
mountain, which some Italian gentlemen had not long before pronounced to be the crater of an extinct volcano. Upon
shewing them to Dr. Beddoes, he was so persuaded of the
fact, that he even summoned a particular assembly of the
members of ]the university by an extraordinary notice, before whom he delivered a long lecture on the specimens
supplied, as indicative of the natural operations of fire in
those parts of England. A very short time after, he declared that they were evidently nothing better than mere
slags from some old furnace, and that he had since
discovered a criterion by which he could distinguish between the productions of natural and artificial fire; but this
discovery, and the consequent change of his sentiments, he
could not be prevailed on to announce as publicly as he
had delivered his former opinions.

At this time nothing seemed to interest him more than
the account of the two Giants Causeways, or groups of prismatic basaltine columns, in the Venetian states, in Italy, in
the LXVth volume of the Philosophical Transactions,
|
communicated by Mr. Strange, long his majesty’s resident at
Venice. Dr. Beddoes’s retirement from Oxford, about
1792, was accelerated by his intemperance in politics, occasioned by the remarkable circumstances of the times. In
the following year he removed to Bristol, where he began
that career of medical and physiological researches, experiments, and lectures, which made him so generally conspicuous, and which appear to have continued with the
most striking zeal and perseverance to the last moment of
his short life, varied according to circumstances, but never
wholly abandoned. In 1798, his Pneumatic Institution
was opened, which very much excited the attention of the
puhlic, although its practical effects were not correspondent
to the high expectations entertained. Various publications
came from his pen in rapid succession, until 1808, when
he was seized with a disorder which proved fatal, Dec. 24, of
that year. This, which was a dropsy of the chest, he had
mistaken for a hepatic disorder. His character, as given by
his learned and affectionate biographer, is highly favourable, but it presents two subjects of regret, the one that
he should have thought it necessary to waste so much time
on the fleeting politics of the day; the other, that in his
many schemes and experimental researches, he was precipitate and unsteady. He was undoubtedly capable of
great things, but too hurried, too sanguine, too unconscious of the lapse of time, and too little aware of the want
of opportunity for any one man to accomplish any very
numerous ends, either of invention or reformation. The
learned world had reason to lament his early death, because
age might have corrected those blemishes or eccentricities of
his character, which prevented his doing justice, even to
his own designs and his own powers. Had he been less
impetuous, less sanguine, and more capable of fixing and
concentrating his views, he might have accomplished
much more good, and left the world much more benefited
by his extraordinary labours and indefatigable diligence.
Of this labour and diligence, the reader may form a correct
notion by the following list of his publications. I. “Translation of Spailanzani’s dissertations on Natural History,”
1784, reprinted 1790. 2. “Notes to a translation of Bergman’s Physical and Chemical Essays,” 1784. 3. “Translation of Bergman’s essay on Elective Attractions,” 178,5.
4. “Translation of Scheele’s Chemical Essays,” edited and
corrected by him, 1786.5. “Chemical Experiments and
| Opinions extracted from a work published in the last century,” 1790. 6. Three papers in the Philosophical Trail*.
eactions for 1791 and 1792, on “The affinity between Basaltes and Granite the conversion of cast into malleable
i ron and second part to ditto.” 7. “Memorial addressed
to the curators of the Bodleian Library,” no date. 8. “A
letter to a Lady on the subject of early Instruction, partiticularly that of the poor,” 1792, printed but not published.
9. “Alexander’s Expedition to the Indian Ocean,” not
published. 10. “Observations on the nature of demonstrative evidence, with reflections on Language,” 1792.
11. “Observations on the nature and cure of Calculus,
Sea-scurvy, Catarrh, and Fever,” 1792. 12. “History of
Isaac Jenkins,” a moral fiction, 1793. 13. “Letters from.
Dr. Withering, Dr. E wart, Dr. Thornton, &c.” 1794.
14. “A Guide for self-preservation and parental affection,”
1794. 15. “A proposal for the improvement of Medicine,”
1794. 16. “Considerations on the medicinal use, and on
the production of Factitious Airs:” parts I. and II. 1794,
part III. 1795, and parts IV. and V, 1796. 17. “Brown’s
elements of Medicine, with a preface and notes,” 1795.
18. “Translation from the Spanish, of Gimbernat’s new
method of operating on Femoral Hernia,” 1795. 19.
“Outline of a plan for determining the medicinal powers
of Factitious Airs,” 1795. 20. “A word in defence of the
Bill of Rights against Gagging-bills, 1795. 21.” Where
would be the harm of a Speedy Peace?“1795. 22.” An
essay on the public merits of Mr. Pitt,“1796. 23.” A
letter to Mr. Pitt on the Scarcity,“1796. 24.” Alternatives
compared, or, What shall the Rich do to be safe?“25.” Suggestions towards setting on foot the projected establishment for Pneumatic Medicine,“1797. 26.” Reports
relating to Nitrous Acid,“1797. 27.” A lecture introductory to a popular course of Anatomy,“1797. 28.” A
suggestion towards an essential improvement in the Bristol
Infirmary,“1798. 29.” Contributions to medical and
physical knowledge from the West of England,“1799.
30.” Popular essay on Consumption,“1799. 31.” Notice of some observations made at the Pneumatic Institution,“1799. 32.” A second and third Report on Nitrous
Acid,“1799, 1800. 33.” Essay on the medical and domestic management of the Consumptive on Digitalis and
on Scrophula,“1801. 34.” Hygeia or Essays, moral
and medical, on the causes affecting the personal state of
| the middling and affluent classes,“1801-2. 35.” Rules
of the institution for the sick and drooping Poor.“An edition on larger paper was entitled” Instruction for people
of all capacities respecting their own health and that of
their children,“1803. 36.” The manual of Health, or
the Invalid conducted safely through the Seasons,“1806.
37.” On Fever as connected with Inflammation,“1807.
38.” A letter to sir Joseph Banks, on the prevailing discontents, abuse, and imperfections in Medicine,“1808.
39.” Good advice for the Husbandman in Harvest, and for
all those who labour hard in hot births; as also for others
who will take it in warm weather," 1808. Besides these,
Dr. Beddoes was a considerable contributor to several of
the medical and literary journals. 1

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